Research into heredity and diseases is no longer possible without programmers. Wondering how you can apply IT and biology skills to lifelike problems in health and disease? Then the unique advanced bachelor of Bioinformatics in Bruges is something for you!

Bioinformatics is a new and spectacular field which uses methods from informatics to store and process molecular biological information (DNA, proteins, functions). In bioinformatics, molecular biology is combined with informatics and programming. A bioinformatics scientist is capable of retrieving the necessary information from databases and of using these to make predictions. He will play an important role in the development of new medicines in the field of cancer, Alzheimer, …

• Informatics scientist / storage, organisation and sharing of molecular biological data in database systems
• Bioinformatics scientist / data processing and analysis by means of bioinformatics’ tools in a dry lab
• Programmer / integration by scripting and automation of bioinformatics’ tools

In the course of the bioinformatics training programme, 3 roles are covered, viz. the role of programmer, the role of informatics scientist and the role of bioinformatics scientist. You learn several programming languages like PHP, Python and R and you use the most relevant databases of which you learn to process and interpret the data. During the program there is a special emphasis on standard and essential tools, both in a Windows and in a Linux environment. During the traineeship (without bachelor test) a fourth role is addressed, the role of the New Young Professional, in which the more generic competences of a bachelor (such as team player, communicator, …) are pursued.

As the training progresses, you are more and more familiar with the processing of complex biological data, like next generation sequencing data (NGS data) and you are able to apply these within a professional framework.